David Turnbull said Celtic’s preparations for this weekend’s Scottish Cup game against Falkirk were going well and insisted there was no risk of complacency from the holders.

Celtic return to action this Saturday (April 3) against League One leaders Falkirk at Paradise in the third round of the Scottish Cup.

With many first-team players representing their countries in the World Cup qualifiers and Under-21 Euros, John Kennedy has been working with a depleted squad recently. However, it has been business as usual for the rest of the Celtic squad, according to Turnbull who said he has thoroughly enjoyed the hard work.

“It’s been a great week,” said the 21-year-old. “There are a few boys missing because of the international fixtures but a few young boys have been training with us which has helped so the training has been good and high intensity. It’s been brilliant really, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

'You can’t drop your standards when the other boys are away. You need to keep working hard, look forward to the next game and train the way you want to play.'

“We’ve been focusing on ourselves so far in terms of how we’re going to build up and use the possession. As more boys come back during the week we’ll start working towards the game even more.”

Celtic’s game against Falkirk will see them initiate the defence of the trophy they have won for the past four successive seasons. Celtic’s opponents have missed a lot of football this year with the lower league clubs only returning to competitive action on March 20 due to the Coronavirus restrictions. The League One leaders appeared to have picked up from where they left off though having recorded three wins and a draw so far.

Turnbull said Celtic were hungry to win the trophy again and would not overlook the test Falkirk will pose this weekend.

“Starting from this weekend, we need to go out and perform 100% and I’m sure that’ll take us a long way,” he said. “We can’t show any complacency. You’re only as good as your last game and we don’t know how good Falkirk are going to be. We just need to focus on our own game, go out and get a result.

“My confidence is high at the minute. I just want to keep creating and scoring as many goals as I can, help the team out and show the fans what I can do. Since I’ve started playing, even at Motherwell, I wanted to base my game on goals. A goal-scoring midfielder can be hard to come by so I’m just trying to add that to my game every week. Wherever I’m put in, whether it’s a 10 role, deeper or out wide I enjoy doing it.”

David Turnbull: We won't underestimate Falkirk in Scottish Cup tie